Abundance of creativity

Published
12:00 am CDT, Saturday, October 25, 2014

ALTON — After months of preparation and hard work, residents of Alton will finally be audience to the mural, “Abundance” designed and produced by Anne Farley Gaines and students of her art class at Principia College in Elsah.

The mural, which spans 50 feet by 20 feet across the side of the building currently occupied by Lucky Dog Groomers and soon to occupied by Grassroots Grocery, was being assembled on Saturday afternoon. The building is located at 413 Ridge Street in Alton.

The mural will consist of several dogs as homage to Stephanie Sams, owner of Lucky Dog Groomers. In addition to the dogs, the mural will also feature several other pieces including geese, eagles, fish, flowers and trees.

Gaines was in contact with several colleagues at the college in an attempt to determine where her large scale mural should be displayed. Her colleagues suggested Alton as her destination, an up-and-coming location.

“It will be a way of giving the school presence in Alton, and making a difference,” Gaines said.

None of the 50 separate pieces of the mural will be directly connected to one another, in an attempt to bring out the individuality of the mural while still showing the unity of the art piece. Gaines said each student had their own pieces, but the beauty of this project allowed students to help and give input on each other’s pieces.

The mural contains 12 dogs according to Gaines. The dogs are important to the mural because they are directly tied to Lucky Dogs Grooming. Sams asked Gaines to make it clear that this is a building where dogs are groomed inside, and her business is still very much open. Gaines called Sams, an area pioneer, and was happy to incorporate dogs in her work.

There is one dog in particular which should draw local residents towards the mural. Trooper, the now popular rescue dog in Alton, is shown in a full body cast on the left side of mural. Trooper was rescued after being dragged across Alton by a car, leaving him badly injured. Freshman at Principia College Bucky Brewer had the privilege of authoring Trooper’s spot in the mural.

Gaines, an artist from Chicago, has coordinated five large scale murals before coming to work on “Abundance.” Most recently she organized a 72 feet by 26 feet large scale mural on the side of San Jose Obrero women’s shelter in Chicago. This project took Gaines over a year to complete, but jokes that this time she has students who are being graded on the mural.

In addition to her own hard work and dedication, Gaines also has received dedication from the eight students in her class. These students put forth hard work not only during class time, but also during four Saturday Sessions at the Jacoby Art Center. She also received help from the housekeeping staff at Principia, who took an interest in her project while they were cleaning the room. They took a personal interest in the project and contributed to the piece.

The “Abundance” mural is not just a new art piece for spectators to look at as the drive on Ridge Street, but also spreads an important message from Gaines and her students.

“The ‘Abundance’ mural shows different elements, it exudes love of humanity, love of nature, and the whole sense of abundance,” Gaines said. “Abundance is positive; it means enough for everyone, and then some.”

The hope is for the mural to be finished, and displayed on Nov. 1, but that date is tentative and Gaines says it depends on the amount of time her and her students are able to put into the project.